Ava Fails's Blog, page 8

Where the Kindle Fire Falls Short

Overview

The Kindle Fire hit the market with projections by analysts that it would be a direct competitor for the Apple iPad. There are even rumors that Apple plans to answer with a smaller iPad of comparable price. The Kindle Fire as a tablet does offer competition to more expensive Android tablets especially. While the price of the Fire is hard to beat, there is one area where the Kindle Fire falls horribly short.

The Shortcoming

Connectivity. When the first generation Kindles hit the scene as e-readers, one of the main selling points was free 3G service through AT&T. You bought the Kindle and had the ability to surf Amazon’s e-book store from anywhere you could pick up AT&T service which is most areas throughout the United States. Earlier Kindles also shipped with a cable that connected the device to your computer, so you could download books and transfer them manually.

This service flew out the window when the Fire came out. Providing 3G to the Fire would mean data overload for AT&T. Not to mention, 3G speeds wouldn’t begin to support the capability of the Kindle Fire’s dual core processor. So, users are stuck with wi-fi service only on the Kindle Fire. That means that in order to use the Internet on the device at all, you must have access to a wi-fi hotspot, your home wi-fi, or permission to use a secured connection.

The Kindle Fire on Lockdown

It seems that Amazon is so worried that users might gain access to an app market other than their own, that they’ve left out any other source of connectivity with the Kindle Fire. The Fire has two ports. One is a standard headphone jack and the other is the micro USB to charge the device. Amazon doesn’t even include the USB cable to connect the Fire to your computer like with their other Kindle devices. In order to connect the Kindle Fire to your computer, you must purchase the cable separately; only a standard charging cable is included.

Why the Kindle Fire Might Not Stand Up to the Competition

Even cheaper budget tablets ship with more connectivity than the Kindle Fire. These devices are often loaded with options including an SD card slot, a USB port, and an HDMI jack. Adding in this connectivity would make the Kindle Fire unstoppable. With a USB port, users would have the option of using a mobile broadband service to increase connectivity. A USB port also allows expansion of the 8GB memory available on the Fire as would an SD card slot.

Solutions

Solutions to the connectivity issue are extremely limited. The only way to gain full access to the Kindle Fire’s whole potential is to root the device. A process that is not for the novice and is a bit of a gamble that will void your warranty. Once the device is rooted, you then have the option of adding in more app markets and expanding the ways the Fire can be used. Other than that, there’s no way currently to expand the ability to connect the device to the Internet. Most apps are useless without it save for downloaded games and standalone productivity apps and tools.

If rooting is out of the question, then users can purchase the connector cable and sideload apps onto the device. It’s not too difficult to find app files, download them to your computer, and then drag and drop the file onto your Kindle Fire. The Fire will do the rest.

Conclusion

With new tablets hitting the market everyday targeting the cheaper prices, the Kindle Fire will quickly lose its edge. There are already tablets out there that are only $30 or so more than the Fire with all the features plus the connectivity options listed above. Don’t forget Bluetooth. Bluetooth adds a whole new dimension of connectivity to a device. Imagine a Kindle Fire with a keyboard, and not of the virtual onscreen variety. It’s a waiting game to see if Amazon will step up with a tablet that actually has the user in mind instead of their wallet.

Kindle Fire as a Tablet

In order to use your Kindle Fire to its full potential as a tablet would require that you root it. Rooting is a tedious process that can make your Fire a useless “brick”. However, rooting gives you administrative access to the Fire that you can’t get without going through the process.

When you remove the focus from your Kindle as an e-reader, you can really begin to look at it as an Android tablet. A tablet is basically a netbook without a keyboard. Tablets put the emphasis on the content and allow users to interact physically with that content. The Kindle Fire as a tablet is no different. It’s multi-touch screen allows users to input commands through touch. This makes the Kindle Fire a highly personal experience. Instead of clicking an web links with your mouse cursor, you simply touch it lightly with your finger.

Tablets vary widely in price. Lower end models start out well below $100 while the higher end models exceed $500. The Kindle Fire offers a high-end experience at a price tag under $200. Competitors are finding it difficult to compete with the cost. Using the Kindle Fire as a tablet means that you can create the focus as the user. Whether you are into games or productivity, there’s an app or a two hundred for that.

The Kindle Fire’s screen is brilliant for games and videos. The brightness is completely adjustable and it’s stereo speakers will bring the content to life. There’s a headphone jack if you need to keep it on the down low. The Fire lacks some of the benefits of Android tablets such as ports, SD card slots, and on board storage. Amazon makes up for the shortcoming with its 5GB of free cloud storage.

The Kindle Fire has what it takes to multi-task with 512MB of RAM and a dual-core processor. It will run your favorite music app in the background while you browse the web. Switch easily between productivity and game apps. With tons of apps made to sync information between your Android device and your computer, all of your most important information is at your fingertips.

Conclusively, the Kindle Fire makes a great personal tablet that you can use to digest any type of content available on the Internet. Save your favorites to the cloud and access it any time you have a Wi-Fi connection. The Kindle Fire as a tablet is the most cost-effective product currently on the market.

DISCLAIMER: Remember, attempting to root your Kindle Fire may render your device useless. ProWebWriter isn’t responsible for damage incurred in attempting this process.

Rooting the Kindle Fire

What is Rooting?

Rooting is a term used for gaining administrative access to the “root” of the Linux system which Android and the custom Android Operating System of the Kindle Fire run on. Rooting is a tedious process that is not recommended for the casual user. Rooting entails loading user-created software called ROM’s and manipulating the factory-installed software and programs included with the Kindle. Some users will find that the benefits of this process outweigh the risks.

The Dangers of Rooting

Rooting your Kindle Fire will not only void your warranty, but you run the risk of rendering your Kindle useless; also called “bricking”. There are no guarantees that any given rooting method will work successfully. In order to root the Kindle Fire, one must choose a method and follow all the steps to the letter. Should one of the steps go awry, you need to have enough computer knowledge to fix the problem before moving on in the process. There are procedures for fixing a bricked Kindle, but they are often just as tedious as the rooting process.

DISCLAIMER: You should not attempt to root your Kindle Fire if you aren’t savvy with computers. ProWebWriter are in NO way responsible for damage incurred by attempting to root your Kindle Fire. Rooting your Kindle may render your device unusable. You do so at YOUR OWN RISK.

The Benefits of Rooting

The main benefit of rooting the Kindle is to gain access to the Google Android Market…now known as the Google Play Store. Amazon has blocked access to the Market to focus users on their own app store. The Amazon App Store has thousands of apps, but the Market has millions. Gaining root access to your Kindle Fire allows you all of the potential of the device as a tablet. Once your Fire is rooted, you can install a number of other user-created ROM’s to mimic the look of various operating systems and devices. The customization of the device is no longer limited to Amazon’s Carousel.

Finding a Rooting Method

There is no way to find a surefire method to root your Kindle Fire. Finding a reliable rooting method will take some initial research. Good sources can be found on YouTube and of course, Google Search. Read as much as you can including YouTube comments and see what others are saying about the process. Watch any procedure you are considering multiple times before going through the actual steps on your Kindle Fire. Search and bookmark the fixes before you start.

NOTE: You will also need a specific cord that doesn’t ship with the Kindle Fire. If you have an older e-ink Kindle, you may already have one. Otherwise:

 

Your Rooted Kindle Fire

Installing the Google Android Market on your Kindle Fire is a separate process from rooting, so you’ll want to look up that process as well. The initial rooting of your device will not destroy the integrity of the Amazon experience. The Carousel and all of the elements of your stock Kindle Fire will still be accessible. You will be able to install a multitude of apps that you either couldn’t get from the Amazon App Store or weren’t compatible with your Kindle before. If you were happy with your Kindle Fire before rooting it, you will be surprised by the flexibility of the Fire as a tablet.

Rooting Isn’t for Everyone

If you find that the Kindle Fire is perfect the way that it is and the Amazon App Store has more apps than you could use in a lifetime, it’s probably a wise choice not to take the risk. The Kindle Fire is a decent device on its own and there’s no shame in using it the way Amazon intended.

Source Box

I rooted my Kindle Fire using the Kindle Fire Utility. Some savvy developers have made it an easy point and click task to root and install Google vending apps like the Google Play Store. This forum is an absolute authority for development regarding rooting and the Kindle Fire.

This is the video I used. Be aware of what software version your Kindle is using. You can find it by tapping the Gear icon, tap Device and find the version under the System Version heading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwMHIkX20YI

Elements of the Kindle Fire

In the past, Amazon shipped its Kindle e-readers with half-baked, “experimental” elements such as their web browser and music player. These elements worked, but were cumbersome at best. Prior to the Kindle Fire, the focus of Kindle devices was really on reading. The essence of the device revolved around that fact that it was built to read. The E-Ink screen sans a back light was easy on the eyes, and the device was light in the hand with a month of battery life.

 Amazon shipped the Kindle Fire with custom elements that are anything but half-baked. Take a look:

The Carousel

The Kindle Fire’s home screen is interactive simplicity. Coined the Carousel, all of your most recent apps, books, web pages, etc. are visible with a swipe of your finger. The Carousel consists of two “shelves”. The top shelf is your recent items while the lower shelf has your Favorites; the items you use most often can be placed here. Across the top of the Carousel are links to the Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps, and the Web. Each of these launches their corresponding feature. Each section is split between the items on your device and the items saved in the Cloud on your Amazon account. Of course, there’s also a convenient link to the Amazon online store for each section as well.

Amazon Kindle Fire Carousel

 

Silk Browser

The Kindle Fire’s browser is a far cry from the “experimental” browser older Kindles have. Another custom build for the Fire and it’s Android Operating System, Silk is a fully functional web browser complete with the features you love about your computer browser including tabs, bookmarks, speed, history, and a customizable back end. Yes, you can clear you cache and history just like on your computer. Silk supports Flash and displays any web content with ease. The Kindle Fire’s multi-touch screen allows you to Zoom with easy gestures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pn9bjI00Uo

The Cloud

The Kindle Fire ships with 8GB of storage. Some users may find that amount of space lacking. Grant it, it’s not a lot. If you break it down, Amazon says that’s enough for 80 applications plus 10 movies, 800 songs, OR 6000 books. You can chop it up however you please. When you run out of space, that’s where Amazon’s Cloud Drive comes in. Amazon’s Cloud Drive isn’t exclusive to the Kindle Fire. Anyone with an Amazon account automatically gets 5GB of storage absolutely free. This service gives users secure access to all types of files; anything they upload to the space. Still not enough space? Well, Amazon has some fairly reasonable yearly rates to expand up to 1000GB or 1TB of room.

 

Amazon pulled out a lot of stops with the Kindle Fire. It really offers a lot of value for the money with a lot of freebies on the side. If you’re looking for a high performance device, Kindle Fire may not be your best choice, but if quality for price is your main concern, you really can’t go wrong with the Fire.

The E-Reader Experience

The printed book has many die-hard fans. Let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like turning the pages of a book, the smell, or thumbing through to the most interesting parts. Many people feel that these things cannot be sacrificed for mere convenience. It will more than likely be many years before print books fall out of vogue. Before they die out completely, they will become items for collectors and novelty conversation pieces.

In the interim, the world has welcomed the e-reader. An e-reader is an electronic device used to display the text of digital content, namely books. Some e-readers can also display images, content in different formats, and even video. E-readers that focus mainly on reading and books are equipped with a black and white screen. More sophisticated devices have full color screens capable of displaying almost any type of digital content.

The main selling point of e-readers would have to be convenience. Standard e-readers are about the size of a medium paperback and can hold an entire personal library of books. E-readers can download entire books in a matter of seconds via the Internet. In addition, books formatted for e-readers have significantly reduced prices since there’s no paper, ink, or other materials to pay for. This matter of convenience has brought many hardcore book fans to the side of the very device that may eventually replace hard copy books.

The e-reader experience is quite different from reading a book. If you like to thumb through your books, this will be difficult when you are forced to page through using the e-reader’s navigation and waiting through page refreshes. The upside, however; is that it is easier to get lost in the story without reference to how far you have read or how much you have left. E-books have aspects that print books could never fathom. E-books can include live web links. E-readers can define a word by simply placing your cursor in front of it. E-readers can save all of your bookmarks and notations in one easy location.

E-readers make finding books simple since most of them are linked to a proprietary bookseller. Many classics have been adapted for e-readers and are available as free downloads. You can’t buy a hard copy of the classics for free. E-readers are light and easy to hold. They have a long battery life and the battery is rechargeable. Many e-readers offer additional features to reading such as games, video, and web browsing. A well-equipped e-reader is likely to become your constant companion when at home, the doctor’s office, or doing some summer reading on vacation.

For the price of a large bookshelf, a user could own an e-reader with the capacity to hold twenty of the same bookshelves full of books, and have room to spare. It’s a cost effective solution to obtaining the personal library you have always wanted.

The Amazon Kindle Fire

 

Amazon Kindle Fire

Chances are, if you are reading this, you are considering buying the Kindle Fire. You are probably either a Kindle owner looking to upgrade, or you are checking out the Fire as an e-reader and tablet. As far as pricing goes, it doesn’t get better than the Kindle Fire. Amazon released their custom Android tablet in November of 2011 weighing in at just under $200. It was a calculated move just before Christmas 2011 and it rocketed the Kindle Fire to the #1 spot on Amazon’s Best Sellers list.

The first Kindle was released in 2007. It consisted of a device about the size of a medium paperback book

1st Generation Amazon Kindle

designed specifically for reading. When Amazon released the third generation of Kindle which basically mirrored the first with the same E-Ink technology available in black and white only, Barnes and Noble released the Nook Color. Users began customizing their Android powered Nooks to not only read books, but to play 3D games and run apps in full color. The Nook Color revolutionized the 7-inch tablet market.

 It was a no-brainer for Amazon to answer Barnes and Noble with the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire sports a custom version of Google’s Android Gingerbread operating system. The highly functional and user-friendly interface, called the Carousel, makes it a simple device for anyone of any age. The Kindle Fire is the first Kindle with a fully functional Internet browser. It’s not just any old browser either. It’s called Silk and offers users a very computer-like Internet experience.

Since Amazon has long been an online retailer of books and music, they have used the Kindle Fire to monopolize entertainment. With the Fire, they rolled out a free month of membership in their Prime program giving users access to more than 20000 videos and TV Shows. The features do not stop. Users can purchase nearly every kind of content for the Kindle Fire including Android apps. There is a large library of this content that is available for free, so it fits any budget.

 The Kindle Fire downloads content in a matter of seconds via a Wi-Fi connection. It has ample storage capacity, but any limitation is quelled by the free cloud storage provided through Amazon. All the content downloaded to your Kindle is backed up online using your Amazon account. The focus on reading hasn’t faded. Kindle books are now in full color, and you no longer need an external light to read them.

 With all of this and more, you might be wondering what’s wrong with the Kindle Fire. Why is it so inexpensive? Amazon developed the Fire to compete with the big boys like the iPad and other popular tablets. The price alone makes it a competitor. The functionality is excellent. The downfall would have to be in the limitations put on the Kindle Fire by Amazon. Users can only download apps from the Amazon App Store unless you sideload them by connecting the Fire to your computer. Amazon conveniently doesn’t include the cable needed to do this with the Fire. Luckily, if you own a third generation Kindle, the cord provided with that device will work or you can buy one separately on, you guessed it, Amazon’s website.

The largest provider of Android apps, the Google Android Market, won’t work on the Kindle Fire without some major manipulation that will void the warranty. Also, anyone who has used an iPad will notice the lag in the Android Operating System. Some will determine that this makes the Kindle Fire a much too inferior device. Others will determine that such small things make it well worth its inferior price. If you can get around those few things, then the Kindle Fire might just be device for you.

Don’t miss the rest of this series! Bookmark us -OR- follow us on Twitter and know the moment the next post comes out: http://twitter.com/pr0webwriter 

Cigar Box Guitar: The Final Word

End of an Epic

It is finished. I had too many preconceived notions going into this project. I wanted this, and I wanted that, and I wanted it to take 20 minutes like the YouTube videos. I’m often late with lessons, and this is a good example. Next time I take something on, I’ll prepare for it to take forever and then I’ll feel better when it’s just a few days, right? *shrug* I skipped some steps at the end. I didn’t shape the tailpiece the way that I wanted, and I skipped the finish for now. I’m not saying I won’t ever do it, but I had a bit of a conundrum surrounding the tailpiece. I know you wanted to hear the story! All the parts are mounted to the lid of the cigar box so that it can still be opened. Many people build theirs so that once the strings are on it, you can no longer open the box. I felt this took away from the novelty. I chose hardwoods because this assembly would be supporting the full tension of the strings. I didn’t fully realize the hardness of hardwoods. In fact, I’ve deduced that these woods are really petrified. I brought the guitar home ready for me to shape the tailpiece. The tailpiece was necessary to support the bridge. I decided to do a scalloped shape, round it up, and smooth everything out with some nice S-curves on either side of the bridge. I tried several bits for my Dremel including a rasp, sanding cylinders, and engraving bits. The sanding cylinders worked best…if you could call it working. They basically got hot and burnished the wood with a nice shiny, dark finish. I hopped in the car for trip #1 to Harbor Freight and came home with a coping saw. I removed the big chunks and burnished some more with the Dremel. Trip #2 to Harbor Freight for a file and rasp set. I came home with some pretty medieval-looking stuff and thought to myself, “Ha! I got you now wood.” I set to filing and rasping. No dice. These heavy duty things were removing minimal material. I was out of patience. Really, I was done. Even though the tailpiece now looked like it was gnawed into existence by a pack of dogs, I decided “rustic” could be a nice Plan B touch. Here I was grinding my life away on a hunk of wood, and I didn’t even know how the instrument sounded with strings on it. So, I stringed her up and called it good.

Big Brother’s Two Cents

My brother helped immensely with this project, so here are his observations:

Better plan, yes.
Kit is unnecessary.
Power tools cut the time this project took by at least 914%.
Reinforcement overkill: a) is impossible, b) is a tendency of mine I’m well aware of, and 3) means never having to say, “It’s kinda flimsy,” or “So-and-so happened and it broke.”
Opening of the box, while perhaps a nifty lil’ gimmick, massively complicates the build.
If you DO build one, and are mostly pleased with the results, consider that to be a training build for the REALLY AWESOME one you can build with all your newly acquired build knowledge.  (This advice does not apply to my sister!

 Additional notes/observations:

 Cut away the paper on the box anywhere you plan to glue wood blocks because otherwise, the block/glue/paper can pull away from the original box.  Your glue job will be much stronger than the factory’s paper glue.
Use a soft pad underneath your work AT ALL TIMES – A rubber mat works nicely – and brush or blow away debris frequently or it will act like sandpaper on the surface of your box, which you are trying to preserve as much as possible. (These boxes are made out of pretty soft plywood.) However, avoid old rags near high speed, spinning power tools.  Don’t ask.
Take lotsa pictures so you can show everyone and also so you can analyze your build process for improvements on your next one; because if it looks and sounds good, you’ll probably want to build more.
If you don’t like going through feelings like dread, and anguish, and fear?  Just buy one off eBay.  Otherwise? It’s lots of fun!

 Final Thoughts

The guitar is an awesome conversation piece. It sounds okay. The action is perfect. I have to say, it turned out well for a first build. It didn’t quite meet my expectations, but that’s okay. Would I build another? Yes. Would I do it differently? Yes. Am I still stuck on the box opening? Yes. I would still like to try my hand at a couple other things, but not now. If you’re reading this and you are considering building your first cigar box guitar, I say GO FOR IT! A few more words of advice:

Have a solid plan
Know it”s going to take longer than ALL your research combined
Take your time
Utilize your local guitar shop. Mine treated me very well.
Minimize use of power tools — This is opposite of my brother’s philosophy, and while they cut build time, it’s hard to recover from power tool catastrophes. It could ruin that perfect cigar box you found before you can shut it off. Not so much the case with hand tools.
Harbor Freight!
Most of all…HAVE FUN!

Please feel free to share links to your build in the comments! I would love to see them!

ProWebWriter is a Person Not Just a Website

I know you’re jealous of my red snowflake table cloth.

 

Oh, how I wish there were three of me sometimes. One thing I’ve learned from running this site is that you find a website kind of like you find yourself. It goes through phases and sometimes you change directions altogether. I’ve realized a profound truth in all of this: ProWebWriter is a person, NOT a website. I am a hardcore student of the web. I’ve been at this website ownership thing for 6+ years now. In my travels I’ve learned how to market websites, obviously how to build them, how to write for them, etc. I’ve read the rhetoric of many an Internet guru, and decided to never read that crap ever again! 

You ARE a Guru!

Did you decide to never spend another penny on the experts’ knowledge? Have you ever studied the methods of Shoemoney? What about John Chow? How many web forums have you perused? What’s your highest post count…mine is 6 hundred and some…I’m more of a reader when it comes to that stuff. I’ve bought e-books, and paid other people to tell me a bunch of crap that I already know. No more! How do you think those people became the experts? They did something that hadn’t been done before using their own methods, and it worked!

Let’s digest that for a minute…”using their own methods”. Don’t you realize, every expert sells you their methods. It was something they tried that happened to work and that’s when the value was created. Some of these people have made thousands upon thousands by doing that over and over again. Do you thing Mark Zuckerberg read a bunch of crap? No, he innovated using his own methods. Most Internet gurus would kill to have a website with just a small fraction of Facebook’s popularity. I am over it! I have a good job, a good side gig for extra cash, and I’m done trying to “make it big”. You must stop seeing these: $$$.

So here I am…I’ve declared at least 3 times in recent posts, that I’m doing this website thing MY way. I’m done studying and buying books that tell me the “right” way to do it, so I can see these: $$$. I AM a guru and so are you!

Their Way Vs. MY Way

I’ve had “experts” review this website and I get the same thing over and over: “Choose a niche; you’re all over the place.” Well, that’s because *I*, as in me, am all over the place. I have a very wide range of interests and I enjoy writing about them…ALL of them. What am I going to do, create a new website every time I think of something different to write about? Been there, done that, it drains your bank account. Plus ONE site is more than enough work.

“You need to identify the purpose of your site, and who your target audience is.”  This also doesn’t help me. I’ve found that I don’t choose my target audience, they choose me. Who are they? Well, I don’t have regular readers. I have organic search engine traffic…and a moderate amount of it. My readers are seekers of information who land here because I wrote about something they are looking for. I’m fine with that. The purpose of ProWebWriter has changed about 3 or 4 times in the last 2.5 years. Its new purpose is to provide those seekers with the information they are trying to find.

This is a new concept that breaks all the rules of having a popular website. Again, I’m fine with that. I don’t mind reaching new people all the time rather than the same 30000 subscribers over and over. If you like what I say, you’ll be back. I know this is a lot of rambling. I want to cover the basic rules of “theirs” that I will be sticking to:

SEO or search engine optimization — I will continue to optimize my content.
Provide quality content — It’s a must.

It’s not a long list.

This is Where We Are – Skip To Here if You’re Not into Reading a Bunch of Blathering

ProWebWriter is no longer a giant writing portfolio. It is also no longer *trying* to build a community for writers. Remember the forums…what a disaster! ProWebWriter is a person. My name is Ava and I like to write about ALL sorts of things. I’m glad you happened by here, Stranger. I hope you find something that you are seeking. ALL of the content stays. TONS of new content is on the way, and you can contribute if you like. There will be a page for that. 

If you made it through all that or even just the bold portions, thanks for reading!

 

 

5 Android Apps I Couldn’t Live Without

Let’s start with the premise that most of these are free, and I love free. I was a late-comer to the world of Android and the “app”, but I knew that I would be an instant fan. I’ve always loved software and lots of it! Apps are no different. I am a self-proclaimed “app whore”. Whatever…I’m sure you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble out my thoughts on apps. Let’s get to the point…

Click the images to download these apps from the Google Play Store.

 

Evernote  

What is it? Duh, it’s an app. I’m kidding…Evernote is a productivity app and so much more. It’s “newspaper clipping” meets the Internet.

What does it do? You can clip anything on the ‘net to Evernote to read or use later. Create a searchable database of information with a few simple taps.

How much? Free. They do have premium services. As of this writing, the price is $5 per month or $45 per year. You can get a rundown of what you get for that HERE.

Added bonus: You can sync the app with your computer via a mutual account and software download. Goodbye Neat Desk Scanner.

Their website: http://evernote.com/

Dropbox

What is it? Simply put…free online storage space.

What does it do? Dropbox makes it easy to add some extra storage to your Android device.

How much? Free. They start you out with 2GB of space. You can pay for premium or complete tasks like tweeting about Dropbox or connecting your Dropbox with Facebook for easy file sharing to earn more. Refer friends…get more space.

Added bonus: Download their desktop client because Dropbox can sync with your computer too! Makes uploading files to your Android device an easy task.

Their website: http://dropbox.com

MyTumblr Free

What is it? Access to tumblr in a simple app.

What does ot do? Pretty much everything you can do with tumblr. Much better than the official tumblr app with Dashboard access.

How much? Free.

 

Diode

What is it? In my humble opinion, it is the ONLY app for reddit.

What does it do? Everything that reddit.com does. Of course that is a whole other article in and of itself.

How much? Shockingly free.

Added bonus: It exists!

  Office Suite Pro

What is it? Office Suite Pro is an Office Suite for Android.

What does it do? It allows you to view and edit Microsoft Office documents including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. In fact, I am typing this post using it right now as I am at work with limited computer access and no Internet.

How much? $14.99. However, I got it free from the Amazon App Store courtesy of the “one free paid app per day” program. They’ve listed it there at least twice since February.

Added bonus: You can create new documents on the go an send them to Dropbox where you can retrieve and edit them later.

State of the ProWeb

So, I just checked my last post, and I haven’t posted any new content here for 2 months! Bad ProWebWriter! Well, a lot has been going on, let me tell ya. I work a full-time job in addition to my many web interests, and I’m going from 3rd to 2nd Shift hopefully in the next couple weeks.

There have also been some major changes personally…good changes, but ones that create LOTS of busy work. Aside from that, I’ve launched a new endeavor…I know, like I needed another one. I’m going to spare you the details on that until later as I don’t have a website set up yet…only a Facebook page.

If you’ve done any reading here at ProWebWriter at all or just checked the types of content I have, you can see there’s quite a range. One of my passions is Attention Deficit Disorder, and you can read my story HERE. If you know anything about ADD at all, then you know we have a wide range of interests, and we tend to drop one for another ALL the time. I keep my interest for maintaining this website, but sometimes I’m just out of things to say. While going for 2 months without new content is a huge NO-NO, I gotta do it my way.

I’ve done TONS of reading, read the experts, etc., etc. on writing and Internet Marketing. I’m done trying to comply with “they say you should do this” and “no, you can’t get it done like that”. It doesn’t help…it just wastes my time and I miss out of the experience of becoming an expert myself.

So, the state of the ProWeb is this: 

Alive. vibrant. Laid back, and overflowing with new ideas, so check back every so often. I’ll be sprucing up a bit around here and getting things in smooth running condition. Thanks for stopping by.